Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf
Yet if the European diesel models added a hybrid drivetrain, they would improve their fuel economy by the same factor that a petrol-engined hybrid does over a similar non-hybrid.
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Some manufacturers like PSA (Peugeot and Citroen) keep pre-anouncing diesel hybrids but have been doing for quite a while. At the same time the Diesels seem to get better FE and power with each gen which is every 2-3 years.
For example in 2000 you could just about get a 110 hp Diesel in a VW TDi for loads of money. Now you can get a 105 bhp 1.5 CR Diesel in a cheap hatchback from Kia and get 60+ MPG without even trying.
And I think a very key problem for hybrids is that the drivetrain is not suitable for smaller cars like superminis (think Geo Metro sized) which Europeans love. Although they are getting larger and lardier (current Fiesta, Yaris, Aveo) adding hybrid batteries would be tricky without other side effects.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tumnasgt
I think that Toyota would be really clever to sell a diesel Prius along side a petrol one. That way, the general American public could see that diesels are better for FE without the old downsides, and it would make for one hell of a FE car.
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Not sure this would make much of a difference as Toyota like all makers charge a premium for their Diesel models. The problem with the Prius in the European market is price - same problem for the CRZ Couple which is the same in numbers in GBP as the US price.
For example the Auris hatchback (Corolla replacement in Europe) prices :
Auris VVTi (Petrol) 15,830
Auris D4-D (Diesel) 17,385
Interestingly one selling point that Honda are pushing with the Insight is that it should have lower maintenance that a Diesel. Most Diesels have a DMF which goes wrong randomly and expensively or lasts forever, as well as a lot of other highly stressed and expensive bits - fuel pumps for example. The Insight doesn't is their sales line.
Mind you a CVT ? A CVT seems like the engineers solution to a problem of efficient transmission that the end user has to suffer.
The Insight is selling poorly to not at all over here and will probably be dropped. I suspect Honda may also make a non-hybrid CRZ if they produce them in the EU at some point. But it would probably have to have a better engine as the CRZ is apparently quite sluggish when the regen runs out.